[Cider Jim]

I just counted 28 different channels who are broadcasting this on my dish.

[SuperJon]

Thankfully I found stations that were showing regular programing.

[Libertine]

I watched this for 45 seconds and that was long enough for Wyclef Jean to quote himself. Literally. He actually said, "In the words of Wyclef Jean..."

What's up with that?

[thepostman]

how much money are these celebrities giving? or do they think glorified photo opts are more beneficial to society? i hate crap like this and i didn't even watch it...but it normally consists of these celebs pretending they are so much better then us and saying we should give....i will give to my local church who is doing a whole lot more for the people of Haiti and not trying to make themselves look good in the processs

[Cider Jim]

I didn't care for the celebs talking, but was kind of cool watching them answer the phone lines.

[olldflame]

There is something about multi-millionaire celebrities begging for money from ordinary joes that just doesn't sit well with me. I'm sure some of these celebs are digging into their own pockets and it's not considered good form to talk about it, but you get the strong impression that a lot of them wouldn't be there were it not for the bad PR they would get if they declined.

The only thing worse is athletes who base their charitable donations on their performance. "For every home run I hit I'll donate blah blah blah to the watchamacallit fund."

[olldflame]

The NBA apparently did one of those performance based donation things last night................ $1000.00 a point, and about 50 players participated. Nobody scored more than 13 points, and they raised $130,000.

Another group of players just manned up and ponied up the $$$....... Half a mil. Good job guys!!

[Libertine]

OK, I'm going to be the jerk here and question the point of stuff like this. I'm all for raising money and giving where it's needed. Specifically, I'm referring to instances like Katrina where some event occurred and private relief organizations had what to purchase supplies, ship them in and disperse them. All that takes money and a lot of it. However, this isn't that. Based on what I've read and seen in news accounts, the relief effort to Haiti is in no way hurting for supplies or funding. The country has already been a disaster relief effort for the better part of two decades. The UN, the Red Cross and any number of other relief organizations have already been involved here for years and, besides that, practically every industrialized country in the world is currently sending aid to Haiti right now. My point is that they aren't hurting for money. What they are truly lacking is manpower and a way to get the supplies that they already have into the hands of those who need them. You can't donate manpower on a telethon though so what real purpose does something like that serve? You know, other than to make the donors feel better. I know that all sounds a bit heartless but there really are so many other organizations out there in other parts of the world and right here in America that are doing so much with what they've got and, I'm afraid, will now have to do that much with with so much less because the donor money out there is currently getting dumped into the Caribbean.

If anyone wants an alternative, my personal charity of choice is Urban Impact in Pittsburgh. A former LU player, Seth Reichart, works full-time ministring to the inner-city youth there and he and his wife just had their third child. They could use all the help they can get. Just click on the Staff Support page and follow the links.

[Sly Fox]

Actually haiti has been overwhelmed by offers of manpower assistance and they are basically telling everyone we have enough. I have countless friends who tried to go down there and they have all been turned away. Keep in mind that Haiti is half of a small Caribbean Island (the Dominican Republic makes up over half the island).

[SuperJon]

In their defense, some of these celebrities did donate quite a bit of money. Clooney, DiCaprio, Bullock, Jolie, and Pitt all gave $1 million. Gisele gave $1.5 million. Madonna went cheap and gave $250,000.

[olldflame]

What Sly said.

Between Haiti and the DR, I have been to the Island of Hispanola more than 20 times. Trust me, there is no lack of man power. There are millions of Haitians in need of work, and when it comes to the kind of manual labor we are talking about in the hot sun, there aren't many here who could hang with them. I helped build a school in Haiti on a SMITE campaign in 79 and can still remember a couple of the Haitian guys hauling 2 5 gallon pails of morter at a time across sharp rocky ground barefoot and up ladders for hours on end. More recently I have seen Haitian crews cutting sugar cane and doing construction in the DR. They do all the work the Dominicans don't want to do there. Labor is not a problem. Money is needed and logistical support (which also requires money). Security will also be extremely important.

[thepostman]

I am pretty sure the relief effort in haiti is in pretty good shape right now..the country was dirt poor to begin with and nothing will change after this relief effort unless of course their government change...mean while we have charities in our very own country trying to help the people hurting/homeless not only in this country but around the world...people use events like haiti to give tons of money to to make themselves feel better about themselves and they make sure the whole world knows how much money they gave...

I say all this not to say its not great that there has been such a great response to this tragedy, because without the worldwide response there has been there is no way these people could even come close to recovering...I have a friend who's parents are missionaries there and it has always been a place in serious need from what they have said, so its good to see them getting the help they need...but these celeb fundraisers always rub me the wrong way....maybe its the cynic in me

[prototype]

Man you guys are harsh!! If the money is truly being raised and given to this country - then let it be. They already needed major help and then something like this happens and sets them back even further. It's nice to see a country with so much come together and give to a country that has nothing... Who are we to say that if we had as much money as these celebrities - we would have personally rescued them... I doubt it. The one post about - no one scoring over 13 points? Gasol did it and he scored 20 - I don't have time to research, but my guess is that there was more raised than that.

What we should be talking about is what we can do to stabilize their country. Building infrastructure in the country that can provide jobs and stability. Go read about the history of Haiti - how money hungry leaders cut down all their trees for profit and left them no chance to survive.

No matter the motives - it's nice to at least re-build a country out of kindness and not because we just bomb the crap out of it.

[olldflame]

You make some good points proto.

I'm pretty sure Gasol made a large donation which was not contingent on how much he scored, as did many other NBA players. The performance based thing is just a pet peeve with me. I'm glad they are helping, but why not do it like an adult. Talk with your financial advisors (and your wife if you're married) decide how much you want/can afford to do, and make a donation. Exactly what I did a couple of days ago when I made my relatively puny donation to the Red Cross on line.

As far as the future of Haiti is concerned, I'm just enough of an optomist to believe that this tragedy and the world's response to it can be a turning point for a country with a history of suffering unmatched in the Western hemisphere. If there are suffecient funds to rebuild significant portions of the damaged buildings and infrastructure, and if they can be properly distributed and administered, the rebuilding process could provide employment not only for huge numbers of Haitians currently in Haiti, but for many thousands (a lot of them skilled construction workers) who are currently economic refugees in the DR. This would have the domino effect of opening up jobs for Dominicans who have lost their jobs to undocumented Haitian workers who have few rights and work in the DR for less than the minimum wage.

As far as the Haitian government is concerned, while very very far from from perfect, progress was being made, and the current regime is arguably the least corrupt in the nations history (and the most stable non-dictatorship). A semblance of law and order was being restored, and tourism was beginning to return. Hopefully order can be maintained with the help of our troops and others, and they can continue to make progress in that area.